L-Block's Contest History
Who is L-Block? "What is L-Block?" is probably a more appropriate question. L-Block is one of the seven Tetris pieces, or "tetriminoes", along with I-Block, J-Block, O-Block, S-Block, T-Block, and Z-Block. It is unclear exactly why L-Block was chosen to represent the series in the character battles, but I-Block, though more beloved by Tetris players, was probably deemed too generic-looking to make an impact, and so L or J would be the next-strongest as they are the only other pieces that can clear three lines at once. Many had their doubts that a Tetris piece could even be considered a "character", but L's performance proved that sometimes, simpler really is better. "Shaped like a boot to kick your ass." - Board 8 Contest History Win-Loss Record: '12-5 'Summer 2007 Contest - Division 7 - First Group *Division 7 Round 1 --- 2nd place, 40116 30.89% - Kirby, 57652 44.39% - Laharl, 22011 16.95% - Nathan Hale, 10098 7.78% *Division 7 Semifinals --- 2nd place, 37825 28.33% - Kratos, 43362 32.48% - Kirby, 33122 24.81% - Donkey Kong, 19213 14.39% *Division 7 Finals --- 2nd place, 40774 28.63% - Solid Snake, 46201 32.44% - Kratos, 29772 20.91% - Riku, 25656 18.02% *Contest Quarterfinals --- 1st place, 44753 29.03% - Solid Snake, 44489 28.86% - Sonic the Hedgehog, 33339 21.63% - Squall Leonhart, 31584 20.49% *Contest Semifinals --- 1st place, 56925 34.63% - Solid Snake, 43081 26.20% - Master Chief, 39515 24.04% - Dante, 24880 15.13% *Contest Finals --- 1st place, 65462 33.51% - Link, 58100 29.74% - Cloud Strife, 47834 24.49% - Solid Snake, 23964 12.27% *Bonus Match --- 2nd place, 49699 30.03% - ? Block, 68527 41.41% - Weighted Companion Cube, 32461 19.61% - Paddle, 14812 8.95% Character Battle 6 saw an expansion to 128 characters and a reformatting to four-way polls, and with the expanded field came a lot more room for so-called "joke entries", such as the long-rallied Midgar Zolom, the 4chan-driven Mudkip, and L-Block here. The jokes had plenty of fun, but most of them bowed out after Round 2. Not L-Block. At first, there were excuses made for how L-Block was being kept in. The first round saw it in a fourpack with two pieces of fodder; the second round had a fanbase split allowing L-Block to slip by. By the third round, though, the excuses were running thin, and the rest of the Internet was starting to notice. Take a good look at those vote totals: L-Block's totals were higher in Round 3 than in Round 1, and higher still in Round 4, but its percentage in both of those rounds was well below what it put up in Round 1. By the time L-Block took first place in the quarterfinals, knocking off a Noble Niner in the process, L-Blockmania had swept the web, and voters turned out in record numbers to push the Block to the championship. A bonus match was then set up pitting the champion against three other inanimate objects, and faced with SFF for the first time ever, L-Block came in second to the Mario series' ? Block. Regardless, L-Block's legend is forever set in stone. Summer 2008 Contest - Division 4 - Second Group * Division 4 Round 1 --- 1st place, 44325 31.81% - Ryu, 43990 31.57% - Meta Knight, 31510 22.61% - The Dog, 19519 14.01% * Division 4 Semifinals --- 2nd place, 39556 27.74% - Crono, 45757 32.09% - Ryu, 34004 23.85% - Amaterasu, 23270 16.32% * Division 4 Finals --- 3rd place, 33545 24.40% - Crono, 42837 31.16% - Pikachu, 37113 27.00% - Alucard, 23965 17.43% L-Block was given an immediate test with another "joke" character in its opening round match, but The Dog never really threatened and L-Block managed to pull off first place. In round 2, however, L showed weakness for the first time, falling off a little bit with the spike in competition, the opposite of the previous year's trend for a better performance when facing multiple strong opponents than facing a single one. Aside from L-Block, the biggest beneficiaries of the "joke" trend had mostly been Pokemon, so it was fitting that the series' strongest/most legitimate contestant, Pikachu, would be the one to finish off the '07 champ. On another note, Weighted Companion Cube managed to parlay its 2007 Bonus Match appearance into a legitimate contest entry in 2008 and managed to reach the contest quarterfinals. Perhaps next time they stack the bracket to make "interesting" second-round matches, they'll set up L-Block and WCC for a 3-6 tussle. Winter 2010 Contest - Heart Division - 3 seed * Heart Round 1 --- Defeated (14) HK-47, 33283 63.89% - 18810 36.11% * Heart Round 2 --- Defeated (6) Isaac, 30620 60.48% - 20007 39.52% * Heart Semifinals --- Lost to (7) Charizard, 32097 39.36% - 49456 60.64% * Extrapolated Strength --- 45th Place 25.89% After debuting in the four-way format, it remained to be seen whether L-Block could stand up to the 1v1 format, but the Block proved to be up for the task, breaking 60% in each of the first two rounds en route to another match against the Pokemon juggernaut, this time in the form of contest newcomer Charizard. The fire-breathing Pokemon proved to be as strong as Pikachu, trouncing the Block by a 60% percentage. Even though Pokémon showed an impressive performance in the contest, with Pikachu again having a good streak and Charizard eventually winning the division and giving trouble to Mario in the quarterfinals, maybe the joke has worn off. Summer 2013 Contest - Division 7 - 8 Seed *Division 7 Round 1 --- 1st place, 18468 60.7% - (20) Palutena, 8168 26.85% - (11) Teemo, 3788 12.45% *Division 7 Round 2 --- 1st place, 15860 40.99% - (5) Auron, 14319 37.01% - (2) Ezio Auditore da Firenze, 8513 22% *Division 7 Final --- 3rd place, 12826 24.49% - (1) Samus, 21836 41.7% - (7) Tifa Lockheart, 17705 33.81% Though the L-Block joke has worn off over the years the Block still has strength, hitting 60% in his first round match up. The Tetris piece then "blooped" to the Divison Finals by being rallied off 4chan to overcome the near-elite Auron. With this momentum, many thought the L-Block joke was rejuvenated and could make a run to the finals to stop the Reddit rallying monster that was Draven, but was cut short by the two sexy ladies Samus and Tifa. L-Block was basically the only entrant left to be rallied as hard as Draven, but the joke couldn't come through. Perhaps the Block will never best his 2007 run. Fall 2018 Contest - Division 3 - 10 Seed * Division 3 Round 1 --- Lost to (7) Kefka, 11661 39.81% - 17628 60.19% The joke finally died with a whimper. Already seeded pretty low, L-Block was killed by the utterly unpredictable Kefka in Round 1. But if there is any solace, the tetramino at least showed up for the battle, scoring nearly as many votes as his 2013 defeat and a bit more than his 2010 one, showing the fallen champion still gets support - unlike Draven, who without the rallies of his league of idiots proved to be worthless fodder and earned a well-deserved butchering. Category:Contest Histories